Spotify logo
Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images, Bloomberg. All rights reserved.
Streaming services have been changing their price structure again and again for several years and are thus also adapting to a changing market. Added to this is global inflation, which is also putting pressure on the big top dogs. As the market leader in music streaming, Spotify is of course one of them.
The premium subscription of the service has been available for 9.99 euros/dollars for a long time. But that could change soon. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek commented on the company’s first-quarter earnings results on a conference call this week, pointing loudly “billboard” also announced plans for a new pricing structure: “I think we’re ready to raise prices, I think we have the basis to do that, but it really comes down to negotiation [mit den Hauptakteuren der Musikindustrie] at”.
Higher Spotify prices: It’s all about the right timing
Ek also noted: “We have raised prices in 46 different locations and markets over the last year and even in those markets we have only done better. I have a very good feeling about our ability to increase prices over time – and we now have a lot of data to back that up. Being one of the lowest cost providers may have helped us a little, but that’s not a primary part of our strategy, nor do we think about it. Instead, we work with our label partners to […] to find out what is the best way to do it soon. (…) When the time is right, we will increase it.”
Spotify reported total revenue of approximately $3.3 billion in the first quarter of 2023. That’s a 14 percent increase from 2022, but that’s “slightly lower than the company expected,” according to Billboard, as a nervous advertising market eroded Spotify’s revenue by about $20 million.